I'm not sure I'd use the term "mixed genre" to describe films like POWER AND
THE LAND.  Almost from the beginning of a distinct genre "documentary" in the
mid-twenties there were attempts to construct fictions using actuality.  The
most outstanding set of these attempts came from the General Post Office
unit under Grierson's leadership.  NORTH SEA, NIGHT MAIL, and subsequent
to Grierson, Jennings and McAllister's LISTEN TO BRITAIN combined fictions
and actuality.  Sometimes using locations, sometimes using individuals from
the locations, sometimes using the location as a sound stage (e.g., the
dialogue sequences in NIGHT MAIL).
 
Still later in the States during the 'fifties, George Stoney's ALL MY BABIES
and PALMOUR STREET tried to get into the actual world with actual people in
what can be seen as a precursor to direct cinema.
 
If I ever get around to writing it, I could construct a history of
documentary that is a history of attempts to see what was possible in the
combination of fiction and actuality.
 
Cal Pryluck, Radio-Television-Film, Temple University, Philadelphia
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